Suburban
Five months after residents reported a dangerous trench at the intersections of Perth and Ayr and Perth/Surrey Roads in Avondale West, the ditch claimed its second victim as a motorist landed their car into the dangerous opening recently.
Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter
Motorists who are not familiar with the area keep finding themselves driving into the trench thinking it is just a pothole only to realise it is a deep ditch after being stuck in it.
The latest motorist who fell victim to the treacherous trench was driving a 4×4 truck and had to hire an emergency road rescue company to pull his car from the trench.
Avondale West residents say that on the morning of January 23 2023, their Neighbourhood Watch patrolmen reported that there was a sink hole on Perth Road, at the corner with Surrey Road.
A water pipe burst underground and washed away the gravel under the tarmac which resulted in the tarmac breaking.
Residents reported the leak to the City of Harare roads department in Mabelreign that same morning and two council workers came and inspected it.
The council workers agreed with residents that the sink hole resulting from the leak was dangerous.
Council workers then dug a big trench to try and trace where the leaking pipe was. They located it and fixed the leaking pipe but left the trench open.
Five months later residents are shocked the trench remains open.
Perth Road carries a lot of traffic both locally for the neighbourhood and also through traffic from Lomagundi Road, West Road to Suffolk Road and Mabelreign.
A resident, who stays close to the trench and witnessed the last vehicle to land into the trench, said the driver was lucky that the car didn’t drive deeper into the trench.
The trench which remains open in Avondale West.
The resident said they always try to put danger warning signs in the form a tape and rocks around the trench but are surprised the signs are always removed.
“(the) Perth Road trench claimed its second victim recently, the driver and occupants were very lucky their vehicle didn’t land up further into the trench, they thought it was a pothole which they tried to go around.
‘‘We have tried on numerous occasions to block this part of the road with tape and rocks but some people always remove the block and then innocent people end up in this situation.
‘‘When will the City of Harare’s roads department come and fill in this trench before we have an even worse accident?” questioned the resident.
Another Avondale West resident Mrs Sheena Lawrence said they have attempted to block the road so that they can save unsuspecting motorists and their cars but to no avail.
She said the latest victim thought it was a pothole and wanted to go around but because it was dark and in the evening he did not realise it was a bigger trench.
“We have tried on numerous occasions to block this narrow part of the road with tape and rocks to prevent people driving here. However, these keep being removed.
‘‘There have been two vehicles that have landed in this trench. The latest being last week Tuesday night.
‘‘The driver of the truck thought it was a pothole and tried to drive around it not realising it was a trench,” said Mrs Lawrence.
Avondale West residents pleaded with the City of Harare to urgently fill in the dangerous trench. Ward 7 Councillor Happymore Gotora said he had sent council workers to attend to the trench.
During the rainy season in January, Avondale West residents warned that motorists were having nightmares driving on Surrey Road which had become muddy and three vehicles a Honda Fit, a Rav 4 and a kombi got stuck on the muddy stretch of the road.
City of Harare refuse collectors avoided using the road fearing the garbage compactor would get stuck in the mud but were not so lucky the following week when their compactor got stuck in the muddy track on Surrey Road disrupting refuse collection.
